


Sure as the Stars Shine Above

by fictionalportal



Series: Femslash Advent Calendar 2017 [1]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Advent Calendar, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 11:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12911169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionalportal/pseuds/fictionalportal
Summary: Day 1 - Toy SoldierCarmilla's return from an 8-month tour of duty is nipped in the bud by a blizzard, and Laura is resigned to spending Christmas alone.*Each prompt for this series is inspired by an ornament on my advent calendar back home.





	Sure as the Stars Shine Above

_“Please come home for Christmas...please, come home for Christmas...if not by Christmas...by New Year’s night...”_

The hollow lyrics floated through Laura’s living room as the song played for the thirteenth time that night. It was Christmas Eve. Normally, Laura would be thrilled to see flurries of snowflakes wisping playfully across the winter sky. Putting a plate of cookies next to the toasty fire would make her giddy.

But tonight, the white Christmas was a curse of the cruelest kind. The snowdrifts on the highways meant that the only person who Laura wanted to see was trapped at the airport. She’d baked enough gingerbread to fill a dozen Tupperware containers, hoping that if she gave enough cookies to her neighbors she might spark the holiday cheer that she was supposed to be feeling. Even the blazing fire mocked Laura when she sat next to it: all she felt was the cold space next to her where a warm body should have been.

In the eight months that Carmilla had been gone, Laura had managed to distract herself well enough. She picked up extra column writing assignments. Her kitchen was absolutely spotless after every meal. She spent it with her father and step-family. On the first day of December, however, Laura remembered just how alone she was. When she cracked open the first little cardboard flap on her chocolate advent calendar, she cried for half an hour and ended up eating the rest of the advent calendar chocolate just to feel a little better.

Laura sat on the couch with her favorite pair of fluffy socks on and gorged herself on gingerbread angels. She’d eaten gingerbread the same way since she was little: head first, left foot, right foot, arms (she wasn’t picky about the order of the arms). She usually didn’t use the angel-shaped cookie cutter because they didn’t have feet and it messed with her system, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. All of her traditions felt like scripted scenes in a play, and her heart wasn’t in the performance.

_“...by New Year’s night.”_

The song faded out off of a warm jazz chord. Laura plucked the remote off of the armrest and shut off the speakers before the infernal song could start again. She could just sit herein silence. The crisp cookies provided all the music she needed.

_SNAP. Crunchcrunchcrunchcruch. SNAP. Crunchcrunchcrunch. SNAP._

_Tap tap tap._

She thought she might have imagined the sound--until it came again.

_Tap tap tap._

“Did you hear that?” Laura whispered to her newly armless angel cookie. “Guess the reindeer are early this year.”

She prepared to chomp off the angel’s head when the sound came again.

_Tap tap tap taptaptap--_

Knocking.

Laura rose from the couch, carefully placing the rest of the cookie on the couch’s armrest. As she left her living room, the warm aura of the fire faded. She could feel the chilly floor even through her thick socks.

_\--TAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAP--_

The knocking grew louder.

“I’m coming!” Laura yelled. “I thought there weren’t any deliveries on...”

The bells on the wreath jangled as she pulled the front door open. Standing on her front step, dressed in a full camouflage uniform, was Carmilla.

“...Christmas.” The words was barely a breath.

“Hey.”

Laura stood frozen in the doorway. A few snowflakes drifted onto the brim of Carmilla’s hat. One clung to her dark eyelashes and fell away when she blinked.

“Care to invite me in?”

Laura snapped to attention. In one motion, she pulled Carmilla inside and slammed the front door shut. The next second, she tackled Carmilla in an impossibly tight hug. Carmilla dropped her duffel bag and wrapped her arms around Laura.

“I thought you couldn’t get home.” Laura whispered into Carmilla’s hair.

“I have my methods.”

Laura pushed Carmilla back by the shoulder and glared at her. “Carm, if you jumped out of a plane during a _blizzard_ \--”

Carmilla brushed her fingertips against Laura’s cheek. “Relax, cupcake. No parachutes were involved.”

“Every road in this half of the province is blocked. How did you--”

“I have to keep some of my secrets, don’t I?” One flawless eyebrow rose mischievously.

Laura’s stern face melted. She enveloped Carmilla in a second, equally powerful embrace. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

“Wouldn’t miss it, sweetheart.”

***


End file.
